Olivia Ellman | M/V Osprey | July 5th, 2025 | 12:30 PM
We departed Friday Harbor with a full boat, sunny skies, and lots of excitement as we began our search for wildlife. Based on recent sightings, we decided to begin traveling north up San Juan Channel and then west through Spieden Channel. We found a group of harbor seals hauled out on a small island in the channel, and got adorable looks at many of them slowly moving on land or swimming in the water. We quickly continued moving towards Stuart Island since there were some boats that had been with a group of killer whales in that direction. Soon enough we were passing Turn Point and crossing the Canadian border to catch up with these whales. As we approached the scene, we noticed a number of dorsal fins spread out across the area. It was a bit hard to keep track of these whales, but we noticed one larger dorsal fin of a male in the group standing out. This group had been reported as the Bigg’s Killer Whale matriline known as the T65Bs. I was able to verify this ID when I got a good look at the matriarch T65B Chunk, as her dorsal has a very distinct notch at the base. Her oldest calf Birdsall was the larger male we were seeing, and he was very impressive to watch. After a while of slow travel, the whales suddenly started changing direction moving a bit more erratically. Once they were all together, we watched them circle around a lot, appearing that they had been hunting! Suddenly, one of the individuals emerged vertically in a spy hop! This behavior is always very exciting to witness, and another indication of hunting. After this bit of surface activity, the family slowed down again and was likely prey sharing and then transitioning into a sleepy rest of the afternoon. At this point, it was time for us to begin traveling back south towards Friday Harbor, so we waved goodbye to Chunk and her family as they continued further into the Gulf Islands of British Columbia. While it’s always exciting to see whales at all, it’s always a fun surprise to see surface activity and hunting behaviors, especially from a familiar whale family. I can’t wait to see where the 65Bs surprise us next!